 |
The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
|
The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
David G. Moriarty, BSEE and Matthew M. Zack, MD, MPH. Health Care and Aging Studies Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4770 Buford Highway, N.E, Mailstop K-45, CDC/NCCDPHP/DACH, Atlanta, GA 30341, 770 488-5455, DMoriarty@cdc.gov
Healthy People 2010 describes a national prevention strategy to improve the quality and years of healthy life and eliminate health disparities in the U.S. population—including older adults who suffer a disproportionate amount of illness burden. To track their overall progress toward reaching these goals, states and communities need valid, practical, and comparable health indicators and summary measures. Measures of self-rated health, activity limitations, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) are often used to assess overall populations—sometimes in combination with life-expectancy estimates—but their similarities and differences are not often studied among older adults. During 1995-2000 in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), more than 55,000 adults aged 55 years and older in 29 states responded to questions about self-rated health, activity limitation, and a set of Healthy Days HRQOL measures that asked about recent days of impaired physical health, mental health, activity limitation, pain, depression, anxiety, sleeplessness, and vitality. Overall, 26% of these older adults reported fair or poor self-rated health and 26% reported a current activity limitation (about one-third of this group needed assistance with routine care). HRQOL differed substantially by reported heath status, activity limitation, socioeconomic, and demographic status. Those with good-to-excellent health and no current limitation (61% of respondents) reported an average of only 2.5 unhealthy days over the previous 30 days, while those with fair or poor health and an activity limitation (15%) reported 19.4 days. Results will help identify how best to track elder population health and identify health disparities.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this presentation, the participant will be able to
Keywords: Community Health Assessment, Outcome Measures
Related Web page: www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/hrqol
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.